Deadlock
by blangyouredead
Summary: Word gets out that Blake's a faunus, and the reactions aren't all favorable.


It all started with a slip of Yang's tongue, and it hit the four corners of Beacon's campus that Blake was a fauna. It spread faster than anyone would have ever feared. Especially Blake.

Then it evolved into harassment whenever she was alone. People would poke and prod at her bow, ask humiliating questions, try pulling off the ribbon that took her such time in the morning to do correctly, and even ask where her keeper was when they were asking about Yang.

Blake was mortified. And she couldn't avoid it.

It didn't matter where she went, she would always face those people. Her dorm room had been the only safe haven for her, and because of it, there were days she never left the room, even skipping classes or sleeping in late to prolong leaving. Both Team JNPR and the rest of Blake's team had been trying to make things better, but to little to no avail. They promised to keep trying, though. It's what friends and teammates do.

After several days, Blake started to grow quiet, which was astounding because the dark haired teen had already been one of few words unless the situation demanded. It wasn't until Yang caught her sneaking into their dorm room in the middle of the night, sporting a split lip and a black eye. Yang jumped into action, much to Blake's dismay.

"Who did this?"

"Yang, it's fine re—"

"Who. Did. It?" Yang watched Blake intently, her hands wanting to ball into fists, but they were too busy holding the sides of the fauna's face gently so Yang could get a better look at her eye.

Blake's fauna ears folded back a little as she pulled Yang's hands away from her cheeks.

"No one." She murmured.

"Bullshit! You don't get a black eye from nothing, Blake!" Yang shouted. Blake winced at her tone. Yang caught it and softened her voice and facial expression to look apologetic. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell." She sighed. "But Blake, come on, I'm not stupid. Someone did this."

"I didn't mean no one as in no person. I meant no one as way to keep you from hurting them."

"You're wanting to _protect_ them?" Yang narrowed her eyes. "Blake, have you not seen yourself? Why would you want to protect them?"

Blake grit her teeth, her ears flattening in anger rather than sheepishness. "Do you really think fighting back is going to help my position in the slightest? Because it's not. It doesn't matter what I do, I'm going to be seen as a threat or a dangerous animal, so why give them an actual reason to hurt me? In time, things might—"

"In time, things aren't going to get better! You need to take a stand against them and fight back!"

"Did you not hear a single word I just said?! I. Cannot. Fight. Back!" Blake hissed. "In case you haven't noticed, my kind, no matter how human we actually are, will never be _seen_as human. No matter what I do, I will always lose that fight."

"Then let me help you." Yang offered, her voice much softer.

Blake held in a breath, then let it out in a massive sigh and closed her eyes. She opened them again and looked to Yang dead in the eyes. "Haven't you done enough for now?"

Yang's heart lurched. She would have said something, but her throat closed up, Blake's words cutting into her chest like knives. Blood roared in her ears for a moment, making her to deaf to Blake's mumbling. Blake looked away and crawled into her bed, curling underneath her covers, not wanting to meet Yang's hurt expression. Yang, however, just stood there. She was shell shocked and frozen.

After a moment, she hung her head slightly. "Right," she mumbled. "I guess so…" She gave Blake's bed a sideways glance, watching her doze off under the covers. She wanted this night to end just as much as Blake did apparently.

Yang sighed and went to one of the sides of Blake's bed and stepped up on it, careful to climb up into her bunk without disturbing the book piles underneath the legs. She laid down and pulled her legs in close, pulling her covers tight against her. She let out a small, shuddered breath before relaxing as best as she could, which hadn't been much, against her pillow.

Morning came quickly, which Yang was grateful for. Maybe she and Blake can try to talk about what happened without tensions being so high like they had been last night. Yang felt her heart lurch once again remembering what Blake said to her.

_Haven't you done enough for now?_

Maybe Blake was right. It was Yang's fault that her secret got out, and not to mention that no one would dare lay a finger on Blake if Yang was around her. They're the cruel type that prey on the weak when they're alone.

But why doesn't Blake just fight back? She's never seen that woman back down from a fight before, but as soon as politics are involved, she shuts up and takes the beatings. Maybe that's what it was… Politics. Yang never really understood it all too well, the anti-fauna foundation. Blake said it herself before. They're just as human as everyone else, they only have some extra parts to them. It was, in her opinion, a load of bullshit.

Yang sighed and sat up with a heavy heart. She glanced around to Ruby and Weiss's beds. They were still there, sleeping soundly. It was the weekend, so they had the chance to sleep in this morning. However, due to the argument the night before, Yang couldn't sleep in. Her mind had been much too busy to really enjoy what the weekends had to offer.

She climbed down from the top bunk, careful to not shift the bed from the books that lay underneath it. Upon touching the ground, Yang noticed that Blake wasn't in her bed. This was pretty… unusual for Blake. She was the one that usually slept in the longest out of the RWBY girls. Where could she have gone?

Yang, still clad in her sleepwear, furrowed her brows and put on a pair of shoes. She had to go find her. After last night, she needed to talk to her and really figure out what they were going to do about the whole student abuse thing. Maybe fighting back wasn't the best option, but neither is standing around and taking the abuse. It needed to be handled.

Walking past throngs of half-asleep students with coffee mugs, Yang looked at every face she could trying to find Blake's. She frowned to herself. She should have figured something like this would have happened considering the fauna had her tendencies to slip away from her without making much noise even when it had just been the two of them in their dorm.

She pressed her lips into a fine line as she looked across Beacon's lawn, wondering if Blake had come out to read or lay in the sun or something. She didn't see the young fauna anywhere on the grass, but a small sound caught her attention. A muffled cry in pain. _Blake's_ muffled cry in pain. She'd know that sound anywhere.

Yang whipped around and a new fire was lit in her chest. Her eyes widened, and she tried attuning her ears to the sound, determined to try and find the source location. She'd be damned if she couldn't find her, and even though it'd be a double edged blade, she hoped someone was there so she could beat the living hell out of whoever was causing it.

The sounds continued, and Yang's suspicions were proven correct as she was able to hear angry hissing following loud yelling. She couldn't discern exactly what was being said, but she knew she was going in the right direction, but ever so slowly the yelling sounded like words and had been getting louder with each step.

Shortly after, Yang found herself pressing her back to a wall that led into a hallway much further away from the main building. She couldn't see too well from her position, but if she leaned over just enough, she could see Blake. Her stomach dropped.

She sat on the floor and curled up against the wall loosely. Blood dripped from her nose, her fauna ears were exposed and flat, and it appeared that there was a large, hand shaped bruise forming on her forearm. Underneath one of her eyes, Yang could see smudged make-up. Blake had tried to cover up the bruise so no one would ask her about what happened, and it seemed that this was how Blake hid many of her other injuries in the past. Yang sighed inwardly. Blake was still adamant about binding her ears this morning as the ribbon had long since fluttered uselessly to the floor.

Yang kept herself from running, pulling her away, and beating the life out of this person. She had to be smart about this, and even though her partner sat beaten bloody on the floor, she had to see who she was dealing with. She continued to try and see the attacker, his possible weapon, or even if he had any friends with him. However, after a moment, Yang no longer had to stick her neck out to see him. He walked over to Blake's side, yelled at her to get up, and when she stayed put and had her head down low, he gripped one of her ears at the base and pulled up harshly.

The dark haired teen let out another cry and quickly rose to her feet and then onto the tips of her toes. This guy had been much taller than Blake, most likely a junior or senior student, and he didn't seem to care that he was causing Blake so much pain. He continued to yell about how someone like her needed to obey someone like him, about how she didn't deserve to be at this school, how she deserved everything that she was getting.

And Blake was believing him.

Tears ran down her face. Her eyes were screwed shut as she tried prying his hands off of her ear. She let out quick cries of the words "okay" and "yes, sir" as he yelled. The blood from her nose continued to pour down over her lips and dripped from her chin, staining her clothes. He didn't let go. His iron tight grip bent the ear in ways it shouldn't have ever been and continued to pull upwards. At least, he did until a flash of fire punched him square in the jaw.

He flew away, yanking his hand away from Blake's head, and crumpled in a groaning heap of limps yards away from the pair. Blake had dropped to the floor with a yell, hands tight over her ears, refusing to let something touch them again. Tears continued to fall from the throbbing pain that centered around her ear, but she looked up to her savior.

"…Yang?" She mumbled. Yang went down on a knee besides Blake, gently holding the side of her face and pressing her forehead against the injured fauna's.

"Hang on… Just for a moment, alright?" Yang spoke calmly despite her building rage. The flames around her were steadily growing warmer. She ignored Blake's attempt to make her stop before she was back on her feet and watching the guy who attacked her partner.

He had pushed himself back up to his feet and glared angrily at the blonde beauty.

"In case you didn' notice, blondie, we were in the middle a' somethin'." He growled, balling his fists.

Yang's flames grew hotter and whipped around like gasoline was poured onto her. "Not anymore you're not." She grit her teeth.

The older boy scoffed. "Says who? You? That was a lucky punch."

"Wanna test out that theory?" Yang threatened, her own fists balling angrily. She really wished she had brought her gauntlets with. This fight would have ended with that first punch.

The pair stood in a locked stare down, waiting for the other to make a move. Yang, despite wanting to cave his skull in, stayed put. She had to continue being smart about this. It was all politics. She couldn't fight back until he made the first move, for Blake's sake, but it never came.

"Tch. I don't have time for this." He growled. "I don't have my quarrel with you. It's with your goddamn abomination of a pet right there." He pointed to Blake, struggling to get back to her feet to pull Yang away. Blake winced at his words, before taking a weak grip on her arm.

"Yang… please, lets just go… please…" Blake pleaded.

Yang's teeth remained grit tightly as he spoke, holding her tongue and as Blake took hold of her arm and spoke, she turned to face her. She looked her over and then looked back to the older student. He had already turned his back to the pair and left the scene.

"Come on, we need to go…" Blake tried pulling her away again. Yang took a step in her direction before holding her stance. She pulled Blake in close after her flames died down. She was careful to not hold her tight, but Blake had wrapped her arms around Yang's neck tightly, burying her wet and bloodied face into Yang's shoulder. Yang didn't dare to touch Blake's wounded ear as it flicked awkwardly against her skin. She couldn't imagine what that must have felt like, painful, obviously, but from the way he pulled on it, it might have broken cartilage or damaged it somehow.

"I'm so sorry…" Yang murmured, pressing her face into Blake's hair, drawing circles on her back. "I'm so sorry I caused all of this, and that I didn't get here in time."

She felt Blake shake her head against her shoulder. She lifted her head up just enough to murmur out.

"No… Don't be, it's okay… You're here and it's done and I should be the one apologizing… For what I said last night… It… It wasn't fair and it was out of line, and I shouldn't have said that… I'm sorry…"

Yang closed her eyes and sighed. "You were right though. About a lot of things. I just couldn't see it. I understand you feeling that you couldn't fight back, but we need to figure something out because you are not going to just sit there and take it again…"

"What am I supposed to do then?"

"I… I don't know, we're going to figure it out… but until then…" Yang let out a shuddered sigh. She didn't know what to do. She never had this problem herself so there were no such things as proper procedures regarding fauna bullying and abuse. "I don't know… we'll just deal with these things as they come, okay? That's what we do best, and we're going to stick with it."

Blake nodded wordlessly. It was a loose plan, a very loose plan. Things were bound to go wrong, but even Blake agreed that it was better than doing nothing at all.

She pulled away from Yang's embrace and went down on a knee to pick up her ribbon and started to bind her ears once again. Yang sighed, her heart hurting watching Blake's face contort and twist in pain as she pulled the ribbon around her dark furred ears. Blake smiled sheepishly as she put her arms down at her side. The make up from underneath for eye had all but disappeared, and the blood from her nose had either been wiped into Yang's shirt, or dried on Blake's skin. Her eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot. Yang found it nothing short of amazing that Blake could smile like that when she looked like what she did.

Yang would do anything to protect that smile.


End file.
